Grade: 3rd

Month: May


Main Concept

Symbols of Citizenship in World Communities:
Citizenship and Civic Life



Guiding Questions

-Why do different people/communities/cultures/countries celebrate different holidays?
-What is a national sumbol? Why is it important?
-What are some of the United States' national symbols?





Theme/Content Skills

  • People in world communities celebrate various holidays and festivals
  • People in world communities use monuments and memorials to represent symbols of their nations


Key Terms

symbols of citizenship, holiday, festival, monument, memorial, patriotic symbols



Holidays

Memorial Day



Student Outcomes

-Students will describe, illutrate and/or explain how people in world communities celebrate various holidays and festivals.
-Student will report how people in world communities use monuments and memorials to represent symbols of their nations.
-Students will identify important national symbols from countries across the world.
-Students will identify our national symbols (USA).




Assessment/Project

-Students create a Cultural Holiday/Festival Patchwork Quilt, illustrating and writing brief descriptions of each holiday/festival depicted.
-Class researches, plans and carries out a festival or holiday celebration from the world community
-Students find, draw, or cut out pictures of patriotic symbols and explain where they are found and what they represent
-Each student selects a country and researches one custom or other cultural element and create a diorama and/or report. Reports should include a picture or drawing of the nation's flag, the identifying of important buildings or memorials, and/or symbols unique to a particular country, culture or region of the world.
-As students research world holidays, have them create charts that include countires, dates and reasons for celebrating. Students can also create a HOLIDAYS AROUND THE WORLD MAP that includes symbols of each holiday:
Holiday
Country of Celebration
Date
Reason for Celebration












(some holidays to include: Rosh Hashana, Diwali, Bodhi Day, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Chinese New Year, Martin Luther King Day, Passover, Easter, Cinco de Mayo)
-Have students create a world map that shows: famous monumnets (Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal, Roman Colloseum, Great Wall of China. etc.); animals associated with specific countries or regions of the world (kangaroos from Austrailia, pandas from China, zebras from Africa); flags that represent the nations whose holidays they have studied.
-Have students review American monuments such as the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Liberty Bell, and Mount Rushmore. Students can research each monument, use photographs or pictures and create an American brochure.
-Have students create a classroom flag. What do the symbols mean?

Resources for Students

Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith's series of books told from a child's perspective about how each celebrates his/her cultural heritage:
Alex Lee, A Chinese Immigrant
April, A Pueblo Storyteller
Clay Hernandez, A Mexican American
Mark's Kwanzaa Celebration
Angela from the Arctic
My Family Lives in America by Susan Kuklin: Three American families, each of which has at least one parent who did not grow up in the United States, explain how these families celebrate special days, keeping old traditions, while also bringing in new traditions from the American culture.





Resources for Teachers




Field Trip Suggestions

Grants Tomb
WTC 9/11 Memorial
Statue of Liberty
The Cloisters
Sailors and Soldiers Monument
USS Maine Monument
African Burial Ground National Monument